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Monday, 15 February 2016

Guest Post - What Jenny Oliver loves about Paris - Paris Weekend

I am delighted to welcome back to the Rachel's Random Reads, Jenny Oliver, who is telling us what she loves about Paris today.

1.My very best friend lives there.

2.One of my favourite memories is of a weekend break to Paris just before Christmas when I was about twenty-two. My friend didn’t have space for the two of us on the trip and organised a room for us with an old friend of her in-laws. We arrived in the snow at this incredibly plush apartment thinking we’d made it! But were then led to the top floor to a room that had been the servants’ quarters in the old days – a freezing little shoebox with a bed, a window and a tap, but so high up the view across Paris was breath-taking. Anyone who’s read The Parisian Christmas Bake Off will know it well! 3.I adore the short film 14e Arrondissement (part of the anthology film Paris Je T’aime). It is one of the loveliest films I’ve seen about Paris and I would wholeheartedly recommend everyone watch it for a pure burst of delight. 4.There’s a bar on the top floor of the Pompidou Centre with a rose on every table and a view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling every hour. 5.I really love a department store called BHV. As well as normal clothes, make-up etc, it has a whole basement dedicated to things to do with fixing things – from normal DIY stuff to belt hooks, coloured shoelaces and door numbers. I can while away hours there (along with a good French supermarket)! 6.Oysters. Both me and the Parisians love oysters! I’ve been to tiny dark restaurants with just three or four tables where oysters are the only thing on the menu served with a small carafe of wine. Amazing.7.Hiring a bike and seeing the whole city for just a couple of euros. We cycled out to a big flea market at Clignancourt one day, admittedly we got completely lost but (in retrospect!) that added to the adventure.

8.We always go to the restaurant Chartiers where you feel like you’ve stepped into the Paris of your imagination. http://www.bouillon-chartier.com/en/9.The way everyone has a proper lunch! No grabbing a sandwich to eat at your desk. There’s a meal, there’s conversation, there might even be wine. 10.It’s the home of macarons in all their fabulous sugary sweetness and rainbow colours. J’adore macarons!I’d love to know what you adore about Paris. Comment or Tweet me @JenOliverBooksJenny x

About Jenny Oliver

Jenny Oliver wrote her first book on holiday when she was ten years old. Illustrated with cut-out supermodels from her sister’s Vogue, it was an epic, sweeping love story not so loosely based Dynasty.

Since then Jenny has gone on to get an English degree and a job in publishing that’s taught her what it takes to write a novel (without the help of the supermodels). She wrote her first book The Parisian Christmas Bake Off on the beach in a notebook that would end up covered in sand each afternoon and damp from the sea. This time the inspiration was her addiction to macarons, the belief she can cook them and an all-consuming love of Christmas. When the decorations go up in October, that’s fine with her!

Jenny’s books also feature her love of all things vintage, Sunday morning car boot sales (on the hunt for the thrill of a bargain) and an unwavering belief in happy ever after! (Whatever she’s loving on TV might crop up as well!)

So far Jenny’s books The Parisian Christmas Bake Off, The Vintage Summer Wedding and The Little Christmas Kitchen have enjoyed chart positions in the major supermarkets and other fabulous book shops. Most recently she has written a brand new ebook series, all set around the idyllic Cherry Pie Island, that kicks off with The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Café and (currently) ends with Four Weddings and a White Christmas! Mouthwatering, feel-good and perfect for curling up with on cold winter days.